


The Room

by ObsessedtwibrarianOTB



Category: Original Work
Genre: Flash Fic, Gen, Horror
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-03-27
Updated: 2016-03-27
Packaged: 2018-05-29 08:35:45
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 595
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6367096
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ObsessedtwibrarianOTB/pseuds/ObsessedtwibrarianOTB
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The moment she walked into the beautiful guest room at her relative’s house she wanted to run.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Room

**Author's Note:**

> First Line Prompt: "White lace curtains fluttered in the warm breeze; chill bumps rose on my skin." (a 600 word limit)

White lace curtains fluttered in the warm breeze; chill bumps rose on my skin.

“This is the guest room,” Mrs. Mills stated in her no-nonsense manner, as she plumped pillows and straightened bedcovers that were already perfect. “It gets the morning sun. Brings out all the pretty colors in the room,” she added, beaming proudly like it was her newborn baby.

The curtains moved again. I shivered, vaguely wondering why that movement bothered me so much, but I had little time to ponder it because Mrs. Mills was prattering on about the furnishings in the room. I couldn’t concentrate, but I knew one thing for sure: I didn’t like this room. I should like it, because the contrast to my drab bedroom back at the farm was so stark as to be painful. This one was light and airy, meant to bring forth dreams of princes coming to rescue me from some fairy tale gloom and doom.

The curtains moved again, bringing with them the smells of the outside. A chill crept over me, despite the heat in the air. _There is something wrong with this room._ While Mrs. Mills informed me of the bathroom schedule and other house rules, I fought the overwhelming urge to bolt from the room, run to my mother and beg her to cut short this visit to these relatives I hardly even knew, and return home to our drab, boring house in Pinoak.

“Are you listening, dear?”

No, I wasn’t listening. I was sweating like a stuck pig on butchering day; my clothes were pasted to my skin like they’d been lacquered on. My usual long, wavy curls now looked like I’d poked my finger in a light socket. I was melting and in no mood for annoying adult chatter.

The curtains blew again. Something in my subconscious stirred; some small tendril of terrifying truth was tugging at the edges of my mind, desperate to be heard. There was something very wrong in this room, but my brain was being annoyingly slow today. _Think!_ I silently commanded it.

“My daughter loved this room and you will too,” Mrs. Mills pronounced with an assurance I was sure should be accompanied by a blast of royal trumpets.

I nodded to placate her, keeping my eyes on the now-still curtains, waiting for them to move again so my brain could resume its sluggish deliberations. I blew a puff of hot air upward from my bottom lip, barely stirring the limp bangs plastered against my forehead.

Mrs. Mills chuckled softly. “It _is_ rather sticky today. The neighbors have this new-fangled cooling contraption that hangs in the window. If you ask me, it looks like an ugly bat perched on the side of their house. We’ll be having none of _that_ here. We like the fresh air from _God_ blowing through our house.”

For some reason, that last sentence flipped the switch in my brain. I now knew what was wrong with those curtains! I watched and waited for my suspicions to be confirmed while Mrs. Mills continued to talk.  Seconds later, the lace curtains moved again, only this time, the breeze was so strong it sent the delicate lace flying inward nearly horizontal. My skin tingled and my scalp seemed to shrink on my skull, gripping my hair in its terrified fist.

The humidity was worse than it had been all summer. You couldn’t _buy_ a breeze today, even if you had a million dollars.

Plus, there were three sets of open windows in that room.

Only one set of curtains was moving.

 


End file.
